Playback speed:
Many times I’ve remarked, after being informed of one prophetic development or another, something like: “Well…what can we expect at this late hour of the age? It’s all coming together just like it should.”
That’s almost a too-casual look on my part at these things we see happening that prove the truth of God’s prophetic Word. I haven’t, in making such a statement, fully grasped in every instance what is taking place at this late hour. At least, yours truly has been occasionally lax in totally understanding what’s taking place, to some extent. So I’ll say here that it’s my faux pas, not yours, that should be addressed and corrected.
Bottom line of this self-critique is that things are taking place not by natural, prophetic selection—the evolving events that build upon one another by happenstance. These things are actually orchestrated by the very hand of the One who foretold the matters involved. God is in the Heaven-ordained process of pulling all things together for the wrap-up of this quickly fleeting Age of Grace.
I could point to many areas that validate that this is taking place. However, one stands out profoundly.
The war Hamas started on October 7, which Israel is in the middle stages of finishing, seems to be the catalyst that’s galvanizing the final stage being set for the Gog-Magog battle (Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39). The Lord’s great hand of direction came starkly in view for me when the announcement that a minor player has just become part of the massive gathering of the major Gog-Magog players.
I don’t mean to trivialize that coming attack on God’s chosen people by likening it to a game of two teams opposing one another. Certainly that isn’t my intention. However, the whole of this thing called human creation and God’s dealing with us seems in some way to be a stupendous drama—a great play, that is, as the title of this article implies—directed by the very hand of God.
And what we see happening in and surrounding God’s chosen nation is unimpeachable proof, if we ever needed it, that He isn’t the existential God the agnostics claim, but a hands-on God beyond human comprehension.
And it isn’t the grand orchestration that so impresses me and any child of God. It is, rather, a more-or-less minor element He has just added to the drama He long ago told us about through Ezekiel that makes the goose bumps run up the back of the neck, because it shows just how very near we are to the finale of the great play that’s about to begin.
The “minor element” is the announcement given in the following news item:
MSN: Algerian parliament authorizes President Tebboune to support Gaza amid Israeli assaults
ALBAWABA- In a significant move, the Algerian Parliament has officially authorized President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to enter the conflict in support of Gaza, with a unanimous vote of 100/100.
This decision comes in response to the escalating Israeli massacres against the Palestinian population in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Algeria becomes the second Arab nation to declare official support for Palestine and to confront Israel. (“Algeria Votes to Go to War with Israel,” by CWR, November 3, 2023)
So why does this joining in by a minor Israel-hating, blood-vowed enemy invoke such a back-of-the-neck chill? The following helps us understand:
The key consideration is the content of Ezekiel 38 and 39. What features of these chapters indicate the timing of the invasion, its participants, and location?…
Magog occurs in the Old Testament on four occasions (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5; Ezekiel 38:2; 39:6). It identifies a descendant of Japheth in the table of nations, which scholars trace to the ancient Scythians. These tribes lived in the region north of the Black Sea and some consider their territory stretched from Ukraine to Siberia. Further, Ezekiel describes Gog as “the prince of Rosh” (38:2, NASB), which also suggests a location in Russia, although the use of “Rosh” is debated…
Added to these are “Persia, Cush, and Put” (Ezekiel 38:5), as well as “Gomer and all his hordes” and “Beth-togarmah” (38:6). Persia is clearly modern Iran, another Islamic nation, whose name was changed to Iran in recent times. Cush and Put are more difficult to identify, as is Beth-togarmah. Scholars consider Cush is the nation of northern Sudan, an Islamic one, and Put is Libya, another Islamic (mainly Sunni) nation, and possibly includes Algeria and Tunisia because the ancient borders extended west beyond modern Libya. (“The Battle of Gog and Magog,” The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, https://www.foi.org/2021/12/10/the-battle-of-gog-and-magog/)
The fact that tiny Algeria—which is almost certainly a major constituent part of the ancient area known as “Put”—is now added to the jigsaw puzzle of the Gog-Magog invading horde shows that God’s great hand of control is at work. This confirms yet again that our Lord keeps every detail of His promises in every instance.
The detail we’re “looking up” for in particular is the Rapture of all believers in Jesus Christ. Here is how to be assured you will be a part of that tremendous rescue from this judgment-bound world.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)
